Festivo: Visiting Sandy Kessler

First a little background on Sandy Kessler.

This is Sandy. I hadn’t seen her in, at least, 10 years before I visited with her and her family in Querétaro. We went to high school together. She was a year ahead of me. She was First Chair Trombone and Drum Major of marching band for 2 years. Then she went on to great success as Drum Major at Western Michigan University. That’s where we lost touch.

Now, on with the story. You may know that it took me a while to sign up on Facebook, but I did it, finally, in preparation for this trip. Within an hour of signing up Sandy found me!

I said, “Guess what! I’m heading to México for two months.”

She said, “Guess what! I live in México.”

I couldn’t believe it.

She’s been here for 8 years. She’s the director of a juvinal orchestra in Querétaro, which is the capital of the state of Querétaro. Here’s a picture and here’s a short video of Sandy conducting the intermediate ensemble.

If you were in middle school band with Sandy or I you might recognize that piece. It’s Festivo! Hearing it was just one of may great moments of this trip. I'm sorry I missed recording those trumpets blast it out at the beginning! Memories of Novi Middle School flew past in a flurry of eighth notes.

It was so awesome to see and hear Sandy in action. I can tell by the stories she tells, the success she’s had, and the way the parents and students talk to her that she has a great amount of respect. That couldn’t have been easy to come by. I was quite honored to be her guest at these rehearsals and to be able to say, en español, “I knew her when . . .”

More on my trip to Querétaro and my new amiga Nicole in the following posts.

P.S.
Sandy is on Facebook. I highly suggest you look her up.